After the Spaniards established their center of operation in
Cebu, they started their plan of converting Bohol to Christianity. On November 17, 1595
two Jesuit priests, Fr. Juan de Torres and Fr. Gabriel Sanchez, left Cebu for Bohol to
start the conversion in the village of Baclayon. Through hard work, patience and
perseverance the duo succeeded in winning the natives confidence. With the people's help
they built a big church like a fort with a belfry that served as a watchtower for spying
the coming of the Muslims (Moros) raiders who userd to come and wreck havoc on the people.
One such raid took place on October 16, 1600 when 300 Maguindanao Moros in 50 war boats
led by Datu Sali and Datu Sirongan attacked Baclayon. Fortunately, through the church
belfry their coming was made known 3 or 4 hours ahead and the people had time to run to
the mountains for safety, except 3 old women and an old man who were too old to flee. They
were killed and the Moros sailed away.

One intriguing question is, what was the motive for these raids? Why did the Moros attack
their Filipino brothers? One possible reason was to convert the Boholanos to
Mohammedanism. Another plausible explanation was the policy of "divide and rule"
adopted by the Spanish rulers. In pursuance of this policy, the Spaniards used Christians
to fight their Muslim brothers. In 1578, for instance, Captain Esteban Rodriguez de
Figuera invaded Jolo, using a few Spaniards and many Christian Filipinos for the purpose.
Then in 1590 he used 1,500 Christian Filipinos and 214 Spaniards to attack the Muslims in
Cotabato. But the Muslims were never conquered.

Naturally the Muslims resented these attacks by the Christian Filipinos and, in
retaliation, they conducted a series of raids against Christian towns in Bohol and in the
Visayas, plundering and pillaging villages, abducting native villagers to be sold as
slaves to Bornean Datus and Sultans. Because of its location, Bohol became one of the
convenient targets of these retaliatory expeditions of the Muslims. These nefarious
activities had been going on until the end of 18th century. The course of history is often
deflected by trivial incidents. Here in this fortuitous encounter had the most
far-reaching effects on the history of Bohol.